Currently reading CONTAGIOUS myself, and last night, I went from a few chapters in, to 2/3s the way through. I find it a very gripping read, with plenty of shocker and action. I don’t think my other half would like it, as some of the descriptions are somewhat graphic, and he is a bit ‘tender’. (Yes, I know… a squeamish aikidoist/martial artis. Makes no sense me either).

For me, I liked them both just about equally, but in very different genres in my mind…

I loved Infected for the “Oh my God, put down the Scissors” sci-fi/horror genre it represented.

I loved Contagious for the “Now, unless you’re going to give me a body cavity search for the frag grenade I carry up my poop-chute, you’re gonna have to take my word for it that I’m disarmed. So are we gonna do this or are you just gonna sit there wankin’ your crank?” sci-fi thriller/buddy cop type genre it fell into in my mind.

For me, life never falls into the same “genre”… sometimes its a love story, sometimes it is a tragedy, a documentary, etc., etc., etc. Hell, sometimes it’s even a porno… especially when heavily influenced by copious amounts of beer. But I digress and reminisce.

Because of this (and my love for most genres of literature) I was able to smoothly transition from the horror of Infected to the thriller of Contagious with ease… and an equal appreciation of both stories on their own.

However, if one were to expect only one genre or a continuation of the horror genre (or not particulary like the thriller/buddy cop type story), I can see how the personal opinion could run to thinking that Contagious was “terrible.”

I may not agree with it… but that is MY personal bias. For Bloodlust, his biases (not in a bad way) led him to feel otherwise. And what is great is that all of us are perfectly correct in our personal spheres… and possibly way off base when measured against each other’s opinions.

That’s what makes these threads so great… seeing the various opinions, thoughts, and even crazy outbursts… and still come out on the other side with more insight into our own thoughts and others.

I actually liked Contagious more than Infected; though in fairness a lot of that had to do with the fact that Scary Perry’s character was earned in the first book so he could really grow in the second book. I loved the connection he had with Dew Phillips. And Chelsea! Come on! She made the girl from the Bad Seed seem like Shirley Temple!

not many would open a discussion page with that title on a fan site without expecting a flaming. Contagious wasn’t my favorite of all of his books/casts but then when the rest are that good something has to be last. That being said I spend most of my travel time at work listening to podcasts and audio books and Scott’s are the only ones I’ll come back to time and time again. I don’t think I’ve listened to any other casters books more than once so even my least fav of Scott’s trumps the rest.

With this in mind I would wonder what anyone else’s listening(or reading) preferences/orders are. Loads of people have posted their favorites but is it as easy to decide which one would be last in the list if it came around to listening or reading again.

So far for me it would go along the lines of …The Rookie, Nocturnal, Ancestor, Infected, Earthcore, Contagious, The Crypt. I didn’t include the shorts or Bloodcasts and even that said if I relisten to Infected I will still follow it straight after with Contagious so sometimes will relisten to Earthcore before them so really the last 4 are interchangeable so I haven’t really achieved anything with this list other than to reiterate my top 3 … harder than it looks when you get down to it, wonder how it will change with new releases.

Thought it was great! I went to school at Wayne State so the entire 2nd half of the podcast took place in my old backyard. Scott – you nailed it! Although I don’t know if many people could really tell the difference in Detroit before or after.

this forum just gos to show what tipe of junkys we have here. nice and frindly. so happy this dint turn in to a flame. this is one of a fue forums ive joined and im glade. and i loved the podcast for this book

Perhaps terrible may not have been the best descriptive word to describe my feelings…but if I had said “Well I thought it was not very nice” then the feedback and your comments would not have been as debatable. Lets just agree to disagree you liked…i didn’t ..nough said lets move on I can’t wait to discuss my next Sigler book Ancestor when released in the UK in the summer…i’m sure I will enjoy…

But really, Contagious was “terrible” ? That’s a pretty strong word. I’ve read some stuff that I would call terrible. Actually, I haven’t read it, cuz I couldn’t get through it. Poor writing, weak characters, whatever it is that turns me off, I’ll put the book down and abandon it. To me, if someone says something is terrible it means it’s not worth reading. If the point here is that Contagious is not as gory as Infected, then that’s what should be said. If you’re disappointed by that, then that’s what you should say. But to categorically slam a book by saying it’s terrible if that’s not what you mean does everyone a disservice.

For me, there are definitely some Sigler books I like more than others. But I’ve enjoyed them all; I think they’re all well-done, well-written and very good. Do I have favorites? Sure. Do I have an hierarchy, where one book falls to the very bottom? You bet. Do I think that last book is terrible? Not one bit.

But something you have to take into consideration is that the stage had grown to an exponetial level in Contagious when compared to Infected.

In Infected, the story was 1.) laying the groundwork for showing what kind of will power and determination that Dawsey has and 2.) it was, for the most part, all about point 1.

Contagious, on the other hand, focused more on the scientific/military side of things, so it was going to be more hard science than anything else due to the characters who were at the forefront.Is it a change from the first?Sure is, but I found the blending of science and horror elements to work quite well for what the novel was getting at; it wasn’t one guy, going crazy in his apartment, slicing himself to pieces trying to get something out of himself; it was about how the government as a whole is trying to literally get to the cellural level of what the hell is going on.

____________________________________________ the trick to staying sane is to just out-crazy the world

It was actually kind of weird to do it in that order – all of the others I’ve gotten to hear the FDO’s voice in my head as I read along. The audio did add a lot, but my own imagination worked to make out a lot of the scenes! I think it depends on what turns your stomach as to what accounts for gory…

In talking about all this Sigler all of the time, one of the things I find to be just amazing is that even though there are common links from book to book, no two books are exactly alike. They are all definitely Sigler books, but they each have their own something and that makes them stand apart even more. A sequel to Infected that was exactly like Infected – I don’t know that I would have liked it as much.

saying the stories aren’t gory enough is good incentive for the offended (FDO) to give the “Why I outta” to the offendee in a particularly gory demise. Not saying it will happen, just that it seems a sound strategy.

As fierce and loyal as most of us are, we’re still usually pretty open-minded and accepting. You don’t have to like everything Scott does, though a lot of us (but not everyone) have liked everything so far and if someone expresses something differen’t, we’re all willing to share opinions. Whereas if you came in here yelling at Sigler for being a day late on his content and snobbing the voices he does and this and that and personally attacking him, it would be a different story. Then you’d most likely get roasted alive. Cause that’s just cruel.

“Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie.” {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

As a rule we junkies are a cantankerous and defiant lot who want nothing more than to die a gruesome death in one of the FDO’s holy texts. But I think that if that defiance would gain us the honor of being killed in the service of Sigler then he’d have to add whole sections of wholesale slaughter the likes of which might turn even his hardened stomach. Just not sure it works that way…

When sycophants rave and rave about inferior quality product. i’ve seen it before on other fan boards, where overzealous fans go nutso over everything that is produced, even if it is substandard, or just plain bad.

So if you truly believe what you’re posting, more power to you. If you are trying to get a particularly gruesome literary death by defying the FDO, I must say that’s pretty ingenious, too.

The [REDACTED]* of the 7 triangles, the burning, the removing of [REDACTED]*,(ouch) the voices of the “little fellas” in his head, the almost comical conversations with the “little fellas” the great play on the word Columbo (that was a stroke of genius…and I was glad to see it got a mention in the second book) the brutal killing of best buddy Bill Miller, the brutal and graphic description of the demise of Fatty Patty “Free from the weight, the Triangles on her ass wasted no time. They thrust only a few times before ripping free in a great gout of blood, and orgasmic finish to their necrophilic sex/birth.” It was descriptions and top notch writing like this that made Infection a truly remarkable book…..yes of course there was an amount of gore in Contagious but not the fresh rich horrific and descriptive gore of Infection….Having said all this I see myself as a great fan of Scott and cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of Ancestor later this year..I think I’ll also order a personal copy of The Rookie as they appear to be running out fast, even though delivery to the UK will prob be rather expensive. I know by taking and posting a somewhat controversial view on one of Scott’s books I do lay myself open for attack from his fierce and loyal fans..that of course is not my intention…it’s great talking to you all and hope we can continue to be great friends over the coming weeks…months…years…

Bloodlust: You’re a brave soul for wading in here with a negative review, I’ll give you that. But “not gory?” I have a scene where a woman pulls her disintegrating hand out of her own bloody skin, skin that flops wetly on the floor like a used glove. I thought that was just a tad gory. Disintegrating men, tire ironed skulls, and a baby getting booted for an extra point.

Huh. Seems violent to me.

Just keep reading the books! I have no idea if you’ll find ANCESTOR “gory” or not, but we shall see.

Well thanks guys for not giving me more of a roasting and I am sorry for not putting a spoiler in! It was good to see your views on the story and I look forward to reading future Sigler books when they come into print here in the UK. I appreciate that not many people criticize but if what I felt was true then it is good for healthy debate which is what we are having here….so I shall keep posting and reading Sigler

A psychotic, egomaniacal 7-year old girl who can infect people then control them with her twisted, amoral little mind isn’t horrifying? A family getting their skulls bashed in with a tire iron isn’t gory? The two scenes describing triangles bursting out of people’s bodies isn’t horrifying AND gory? There was a lot of macho wise guy stuff, I’ll give you that. Try listening to the audiobook, you might find that more enjoyable (if you can get past Scott’s horrible female voices ). I think Scott does a great job of acting each character, which makes sense because he wrote them. Give it a listen, you might like it better than the book.

That said, I don’t want you to feel like we’re all piling on you over you opinion. Hey at least you expressed it, as well as a willingness to check out Scott’s other stuff. Most times when people don’t like an author’s work they just walk away from it and don’t come back without ever letting the author know what was displeasing about it. Most of us here are pretty hardcore fans & we don’t see a lot of dissent, so throwing an alternate opinion out there is a good thing. It keeps the community from becoming stagnant.

I listened to contagious FIRST because I didn’t realize it was supposed to be part of a series/trilogy. Perhaps its because it’s my first sigler novel but I actually Thought Contagious was BETTER than Infected. Contagoous shows us what the Human ID, personified by chelsea Jewell, could do to the entire planet with enough power and if left unchecked. I also thought Contagious ended better with Infected ending with Perry getting shot by Dew Phillips.

In any case, believe what you want but I personally think you’re crazy. But all in the Service of the FDO

I loved Contagious more than Infected. Secondly, there will be a third book! Third, everyone is different so it is likely that others feel the same way about Contagious as you do. Hope you enjoy Ancestor.

[flickr-photo:id=3938763689,size=m] and friend of GirlCo’s official mascot

“I thought it took the personalized horror of one man, and then made it global, giving us a horrific future glimpse at an infected planet.” Excellent way to put that. And yes, there is a third book (Pandemic), which I am also extremely excited for!

“Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie.” {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

I thought Contagious was better, which I didn’t think possible after how much I loved Infected. It’s so hard to pull off a good sequel, especially after a great first book, but I think Sigler managed to do it. There was scientifical explanation for what was going on, character development and interaction, violence, and all around awesomeness. But we all have our opinions. And if you didn’t like it that’s yours, though I am very confused how you can say it had no purpose. That just baffles me.

“Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie.” {UNdead GirlCo Knight for Sigler}

Just finished Contagious and I thought it was very poor….I had such high hope as I really enjoyed Infected :(( Infected was brutal, gory, smart, funny, new….and I could go on and on! Contagious was none of these with a somewhat gun ho approach with no horror…no gore and very little humour…just all this macho wise guy stuff…..am I alone out there it would appear that reading reviews on amazon etc everyone loved it….you are all mad…it was poor….really what was the point of writing a follow up if the 600+ pages had no real purpose….Apart from the ending when scary Perry Dawsey [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] Anyway I look forward to reading Ancestor when released in the UK next summer….still a Sigler fan